A cloaked man got off the carriage and set foot in the town of Heartwell. Following various rumors from adventurers and tales from traveling merchants, it had come to light that an odd adventurer wielding weird metal objects had performed greatly in not one, but two quests in this town. That alone would likely be enough to case the town, but what really sunk the nail into the plank was that he apparently kept a fox-kin girl that matched the description of the stolen slave.
This wasn't just any man, no, he was a fixer for lower-ranking nobles. His methods were known to be questionable and messy, but he produced results asked of him.
This time, in particular, a shady landholding noble from the outer reaches had asked of him to track down a certain individual and bring great pain to said person. As per usual he was unrestricted in his manner of execution, which brought a smile to his face. He cared not for a reason and was rather fine on money, but what he most enjoyed was the sense of gruesome freedom offered to him granted he got the job done. Due to his methods in completing a task, his name brought upon chills to those that one day could end up as his targets.
The first step to accomplishing any of the tasks given to him was thorough information gathering. The best first step in gathering information on his targets would be to head to a tavern and eavesdrop on the gossip of loose-lipped drunks. You'd be surprised how much information you can gather just by quietly sitting in a boot in the corner of a tavern.
As such the cloaked man walked down the street, noting down important places or locations he could use on his way to the town's tavern. He had already done what he could to gauge his target's capabilities. He had visited the slavers' office and heard reports of passerby's that had witnessed the swift execution of the 3 thugs. From drawing connections from eyewitness reports and the aftermath at the slavers', he could tell that: 1.) this man didn't use magic, 2.) this man used an odd weapon that let out a thunderous boom and punched through its target with a projectile, and 3.) by using these mysterious weapons he could execute multiple enemies at once. He didn't seem to be an enemy that should be taken lightly, as such it seemed that for the first time in a while a challenge had been presented to the fixer. The cloaked man smiled in anticipation of their meeting.
He made it to the tavern and found himself a seat. He ordered a low beverage of alcohol content, sat, and began to listen to his surroundings. It didn't take long for him to pick up what he was hoping for.
"Did you hear what the guild representatives said about the goblin den?"
"No what about it?"
"Apparently it was wiped clean by only two people, what's more in a brutal manner. The goblins were apparently torn apart as if by a savage beast!"
"That's likely just the exaggerations of a desk jockey that doesn't get out often," scoffed one man in reply.
"No really, apparently it was done by the same man that subjugated the slime turf. From what rumors say, he showed up to the guild with hundreds of some core fragments, even a few intact!"
"That's ridiculous, it's extremely hard to take a slime core intact. I've heard the rumors as well, but there's no way one man and a slave alone could have subjugated such a high amount of slimes in such a small amount of time," another man sneered at the prospect that a single combatant could have dealt with so many slimes alone.
Hearing the talk of a single powerful adventurer, the cloaked man listened in even more intently.
"It's true, I was there when he turned in the proofs, that one quest alone boosted him to the second guild rank!"
The cloaked man scratched his chin as he absorbed this information. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled sketch of the main suspect in the killings at the slavers'.
-"Excuse me," the cloaked man asked the adventurer who had spoken last, "Would it happen to be this man you are referring to?" he said as he presented the picture.
The adventurer carefully scrutinized the drawing, before nodding his head.
"Certainly that is the man who presented the proofs."
The cloaked man thanked the adventurer for his time, left payment for his drink on the table, and left the tavern.
He walked down the street mulling over what information he had confirmed so far, grinning in anticipation for his meeting with the target, hoping to have some fun this time around.
~~~
It was a fresh, bright morning. Hisoka walked with Misumi towards the leatherworks where he had commissioned an order for a holster and a belt to wear it on. They arrived at the shop and entered through the door to the chime of bells attached to it. The man at the counter looked up from his work and smiled at the customers who had arrived.
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"Nice to see you again!" the man said in greeting to Hisoka.
"Likewise sir," Hisoka politely replied.
"Oh no need to be so formal about it," the man chuckled, everyone around here calls me Kono"
Hisoka nodded, and the man went into the back to retrieve the commissioned goods. He returned with the belt, and affixed to it was a beautifully ornamental holster, and within said holster was the MK 23. Alongside the holster were multiple pouches perfectly sized to contain the magazines for the weapon. Hisoka smiled at the craftsmanship and thanked the man. He put on the belt and felt the easy reach of his pistol within its holster. It gave off the aesthetic of a western gunslinger, but what was held within the holster was something no gunslinger could ever read of having the pleasure of shooting. The holster was gorgeous, a perfect blend of form and function, as were the magazine pouches, each one numbered in fine stitching.
"It's perfect," Hisoka praised the man, examining the intricate patterns that crisscrossed the holster.
'Well, with the payment I received I had to make a product of equal worth," Kono beamed with pride at Hisoka's satisfied expression.
"Could I trouble you to make one more?" Hisoka asked as he put his hand into the bag of holding and withdrew the second P226 he had summoned for the purpose of having a holster made. Misumi looked on perplexed, but Hisoka spoke to the man.
Hisoka slid the same amount of gold as before forward onto the man's front counter, along with the unloaded weapon and an empty magazine.
"Certainly sir," the big man smiled at the payment, "After constructing the first and finding a good method, I believe I could have it finished by the end of the day," he nodded confidently.
Hisoka went throughout the store, before picking an ornate silver-colored belt. After affirming that it would fit Misumi fine, he added a gold coin to the counter and put the belt down, and asked that the man affix the holster to it.
The man smiled once more and gave a thumbs-up as Hsioka and Misumi left the store.
Hisoka fiddled with his new belt and holster for a bit before turning to Misumi.
"You still have the SBR correct?"
She nodded and he continued.
"Alright. As promised I plan to take you out and properly show you how to use it, and hopefully by the time we finish you will be just as good, no even better with it than your Sig," he stated confidently with fire in his eyes.
Misumi nodded attentively, her tail happily swaying back and forth.
He split his MP between .45 ammo and more 5.56. He already had 8 magazines for the AR, but only 3 mags for the .45. He quickly opened the ammo summoner.
[The ability to summon the necessary ammunition and weapons of a from the user's previous world to the current world.]
Lv. 1: Summon basic equipment and 1 firearm and it's ammunition up to a 5.56 semi-automatic rifle per day
Lv. 2: The ability to summon new magazines or a box of cartridges using MP (Current Magazines: 5 MP .44 speedloader, 10 MP box of 20 .44 cartridges, 7 MP 20 round 9mm magazine, 9 MP box of 30 9mm cartridges, 10 MP 30 round STANAG magazine, 12 MP 30 round PMAG, 15 MP box of 50 5.56 NATO cartridges, 5 MP for 9 round VR 60 magazine (buckshot), 10 MP for 20 rounds of 12 gauge (buckshot), 6 MP for 12 round MK 23 Magazine, 13 MP for 30 rounds of .45,
He had filled all of the 5.56 mags but was left with no reserve. The lack of mags for the MK 23 had to be fixed as well, he wanted at least 5 to keep one in the gun and store 4 extra mags in their pouches.
With that decided he allocated 12 MP into 2 more MK 23 mags, 13 MP for 30 extra rounds, and 30 MP into 100 rounds of 5.56.
Having prepared and stored the ammo they walked to the shed where their car was stored, not noticing the eyes of a certain cloaked individual on their backs.
Hisoka drove out to the same spot he had taught her at the previous time and began rigorously instructing her on the usage of the short-barreled AR. She was a bright girl that listened to his advice, that along with her high AGI stat allowed her to become proficient with the weapon within only a couple of hours.
Hisoka set her to her on self-study with the remnants of her bullets (keeping the extra 100 rounds in storage as to be frugal) and began mastering his new weapon as well. You'd say mastering but really upon picking up a firearm he automatically becomes a proficient shooter with it, as if he had religiously trained with it for months thanks to his skill [Modern Weapon Master]. However, even with the muscle memory programmed into his brain from the skill, true mastery came from practice.
With that in mind, he released the strap that held the weapon in its holster. He chooses a tree 20 meters away to be his target, assuming a proper shooting stance, and let the implanted muscle memory take over. In one swift fluid motion, every movement precise and with a purpose, he drew the weapon from its holster, leveled it at the target, and let the skill influence the finer aspects of aiming, before applying pressure to the trigger and being rewarded with a muzzle flash.
He didn't have an infinite supply of ammunition for the pistol just yet and in reality, thanks to his skill he was able to master a new weapon far faster than a normal person first picking it up would, so he slowly and methodically practiced shooting at the selected target.
He ran through 3 magazines, careful to precisely aim each and every shot to get the most out of the frugal training, before settling for what he had gotten out of it, and repacking 2 of the empty magazines with their full 12 rounds, and repacking the third with only 6 rounds, exhausting his reserves. he set that half-filled mag in the furthest reach mag pouch as to not depend on it immediately in a fight.
having finished his short stint of training, he looked over at Misumi, and more importantly, her target. She consistently drilled rounds within tight groupings at her target 30 meters from herself. It was not a huge distance, however, it was further than any actual engagements they had experienced thus far. With the limit on ammunition, they would have to work on long-range marksmanship another time.
Hisoka signaled for her and she immediately lowered the weapon and applied the safety, before letting it rest loosely from the sling. He asked to see what remained of her ammo stock and noticed only one full magazine remaining. He decided to wrap it up there for the day, not wanting to dry out the weapon completely, for that would leave her with only 3 full mags after exhausting the reserves. The two of them set to restocking the 3 mags that they had ammunition for, and with their combined effort finished quickly.
Hisoka gestured they board the vehicle, and took one last look at the tight groupings; the proof of their efforts, before taking a leisurely drive back into town.